Jak and Daxter: Precursor Dimensions
by Saphire-Phantom
Summary: The story of Jak II onwards, but ever so slightly different. The first part introduces Jak, but the majority of the first few chapters is what happened to Daxter in those two long years in Haven. Includes characters from Jak 2, 3, and Daxter.
1. Through the Rift

For every age, there is a time of trial. The rocks stood such great fire before they were the ground beneath our feet. In my many years as a sage, I have known of only one such ordeal. The great legacy of Jak….

The young boy lifted the last piece of the mechanical scrap onto the platform. He used a bare arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Behind him was a huge vehicle, shaped strangely and showing before unseen craftsmanship. The boy had untidy, unkempt blonde hair that streaked upwards and over his head. His jade eyes gleamed with hope, with a kind of power that could not possibly be described.

This mysterious vehicle was the Rift Rider- it was an artefact that the boy had found not two days ago, with the help of his friend Daxter. It was a change for them, finding this thing… he no longer wanted change, as the change over the last month was enough for him.

His eyes showed worry as he recalled the events of the nearby past…. He saw flames, spiralling up towards him, lashing his body and singing his skin. He saw two dark figures, a man and a woman, clawing at him brutally with their fingers. And then his eyes closed as he fully remembered what had happened.

"_Foolish boy! You cannot possibly stop Dark Eco! And if you do not understand that, then you shall die trying!"_

A fist flew into his stomach, winding him and knocking him backwards onto the floor.

"_Jak! Jak, buddy, you gotta get up! You can beat them, I know ya can!"_

Without thinking about it, he sprang to his feet, releasing a flurry of kicks into the man's head. He heard a huge crack and a scream. He could see nothing, the darkness surrounded him. He then realised where he was and what was happening…

He was on top of the eco vats on Misty Island, ruthlessly battling with the two eco barons, Gol and Maia. The two had once been great sages of eco, just as his friend Samos was. But they had been tempted by Dark Eco, arguably the most powerful of all Eco Sources. But that was not when Jak came into the story. Jak and Daxter were two ordinary teenagers living in tranquil Sandover Village, with their mentor Samos, sage of green eco and the undeniably beautiful Keira. Jak always felt something for her…but he could never say anything. He never said anything anyway. He didn't need to talk, so he didn't. It was as simple as that. Besides, with a friend like Daxter you couldn't get a word in edgeways. They had decided one day, against Samos's wishes, to go to Misty Island, the home of the evil Lurkers. So they went, and had a look around. But while poking around the Lurker fortress, Jak and Daxter were knocked back into a pool of Dark Eco by two rogue Lurkers. Daxter was totally submerged for a long amount of time, but Jak managed to climb out. Daxter would have drowned if Samos hadn't come along at the last second to pull him out… but he would never been the same. Somehow, the eco had changed him into a weasel otter hybrid- an ottsel. Samos told them they could be changed back if they found Gol, the dark eco sage. And thus, their first adventure began…

But Gol had changed. He and his sister Maia had been changed by the dark eco, and now they were dark to the core. When Jak found Gol, he plunged into a duel with the dark being, with Jak being mercilessly beaten back by the Eco monster. Jak remembered every word Gol had said to him…

"_Come on boy! You can do better than this! FIGHT ME!"_

Jak yelled in pain as an eco blast singed his face. The rage inside was building up, and he felt something stir inside of him… and then he let loose. Purple streaks of lightning screamed from his skin, his bones cracked as they grew, and his eyes cringed as their pupils widened. With huge claws, he tore into Gol, shredding him into bloody bits as his blood poured onto the floor. Then, Jak remembered no more, until he was found by Keira and Daxter, in his original state. And then they found the door that contained the Rift Rider. They moved it all the way back to their village, and combined it with the rift ring they had also found. As Jak and Keira sat down in the vehicle, this was the moment of truth….

"How do we make this thing work again? And why are we doing it? I could be sipping sweet cold Yakow milk right now, but instead I'm here with the mute and old green stuff!"

Samos shook his head.

"Beyond this gate lies the key to all of the earth's knowledge! The very past and future of this world are behind that rift… I've had experience with such things" he looked towards Jak, who was looking in fear at the ring "I know you can make it work Jak…"

But deep inside, the Sage knew history was only repeating itself. He knew that this was something he had seen before… but he could not remember it. Jak, unknowing of this, pressed an engraved button with precursor markings upon it. Then all hell was let loose. The rift ring sprang into life, emitting a blinding light over the village. Keira screamed as a monstrous shape came from the ring.

"Finally… the last rift gate has been opened!"

Samos whispered as he looked to the monster in fear.

"So this is how it happened…."

They all then screamed as the rift rider sprang towards the gate, taking them to unknown places. The four closed their eyes as the rider fell apart in the void. Jak and Daxter fell away from the rider while Keira and Samos were left on their own

"Jak! Don't let the darkness take you over!"

Then the light blinded Jak and Daxter totally.


	2. Entry & Exit

Jak opened his eyes. The blinding light had gone, and he could see an unfamiliar cityscape in front of him. Huge buildings towered above him, and strange zoomer type transports whizzed past his head. A few metres away from him he saw an unconscious Daxter sprawled upon the asphalt. Where were they?

Before he had time to investigate, he saw three threatening figures marching towards himself and Daxter. They were clad in heavy suits of red armour, and they carried metal rods with an energy beam attached to the sharp end. They wore unrevealing thick helmets, hiding their faces from passers by. Only a grey patch of skin covered in tattoos was visible. They were now in front of Jak. The first one took off his helmet to show a man not much older than Jak, with streaked orange hair and a dubious smirk on his face. Behind him were his two escorts and they looked down in disgust at the orange mammal that was coming to in front of them- Daxter stumbled around in a drunken haze.

"Oh geez…. Where the heck are we…? Ooh…" he fell to the floor again. The man raised an eyebrow and then confidently put his face to Jak's.

"We've been expecting you boy" he laughed as his bodyguard lifted his weapon over Jak's head. Jak felt that same rage he felt while battling Gol, the same urge to fight, to kill. And the rage was being released. Purple electricity streaked through the guard's body, sending him flying across the street.

"Jesus shit!" the second guard dropped his gun and ran off towards his comrade, and away from Jak. Now only the unmasked man was left. He backed away slowly as Jak's condition became unstable and he lost control. He screamed and became a true monstrosity. Five claws steadily grew from his five fingers- his eyes widened until they were a glassy black, and his muscles heavily pulsed as they grew twice their original size. He leaped at the man who pulled his blaster from its holster and rapidly fired at the monster. This was to no avail, as Jak clawed the man's face and ripped at his skin, as he did to Gol. He grabbed the man's hand, raised it to his mouth, and bit into it. The man screamed as his hand was torn from his wrist and blood spurted upwards. Jak suddenly grasped his head and screamed as he reverted back to his original state. Hellcat cruisers surrounded him as a medical team approached the injured man.

"Errol! What in the name of fuck happened to you?"

A man with long brown hair rushed to Errol and raised his injured hand.

"Torn… that... that thing..." he muttered, looking blankly at his stump.

Torn took out a medikit and injected Errol with a syringe full of green eco. He wiped the sweat from Errol's forehead and lifted him over his shoulder into a nearby Hellcat.

"Take him back to the base, fix his hand up. I don't want to see a scratch on him."

The guard nodded.

"But what about him Commander Torn?" he abruptly motioned to Jak. Torn spat on the ground.

"I don't give a shit; just get him out of my sight. If he can do that to Errol, he's dangerous. Too dangerous to be let free. I'm going to call the Baron and see what he thinks about it."

"Yes sir."

The Hellcat carrying the weakened Errol flew away towards the Krimson Guard base as Torn stood looking at the heap on the ground that was Jak. He turned his body over with his foot and looked at the empty, sleeping face of a young, innocent boy. He couldn't have done that to Errol… could he? Nobody could touch Errol. Not even the elites, let alone some punk ass kid. He grabbed Jak and looked him in the eyes.

"Okay animal boy." He growled, putting a gloved finger on Jak's chin "I'm going to ask you this once. Who the fuck are you, and where the fuck did you come from?"

But there was no answer. Jak was in a deep slumber, unable to be awakened by the commander. The man called Torn muttered as he put the blaster to his head. Like he said, if this thing could fight Errol, there was no way he was staying in the city. Torn knew exactly where to put this monster. Along with all the other monsters… he was going where they all went.

Jak felt emptiness inside of him. He could not feel cold, or heat. Not pain or relief. Neither light nor dark. He was in limbo. He was sleeping. Maybe you could call it hibernation perhaps.

He didn't know what it was, but he felt a longing. He missed Samos, he missed Keira, and he missed Daxter. He felt something now. He could feel the cold, and it bit into his skin and pierced his mind. He was being washed away… he could feel it.


	3. Little Furry Dude!

Daxter blinked as he found himself in the city. He could remember the blinding light, and he remembered Jak was with him for a while. But he didn't remember any more, and now Jak was gone. Daxter felt miserable. His best friend was gone. He wanted to go home. This wasn't home; this was some empty merciless city that had no emotion or pleasure at all. A tear came to Daxter's eye as he started to moan. How had it got this bad? He was once human, but now what was he? A mangy, insignificant little rodent. He was once at home, but where was he? A stupid, lonely city that he did not know. He once had Jak… and… well… now he didn't. He walked to the edge of the city bridge and looked at the unforgiving concrete below. He wanted to end it, and now.

"Well. It was fun knowing you world."

He closed his eyes as he fell through the air for what seemed like ages. Minutes passed and he realised he was not falling at all. He had landed on a large zoomer truck driven by a man in his late teens.

"Oh whoa, a little furry dude came out of the sky! This must be, like, my lucky day!"

The man had uncombed blonde hair which was held in place by a red bandanna. His eyes were wide with excitement. He smiled at Daxter and picked the ottsel up by the tail. "It is a dude? Or… is it?"

An irritated Daxter shook him off and slapped him around the face.

"For your information, junkie, I'm an ottsel, and as such you should treat me with utter respect!" He pointed an orange claw at the man "Besides I'm feeling a little down now…"

The man still had the excited expression on his face.

"My name is Ximon little furry dude, what's yours?!"

Daxter raised an eyebrow at the child like man. He really did not sense the serious tone in his voice. He sighed.

"The name's Daxter…" he looked at Ximon "And don't forget it Zomon!"

Ximon turned his attentions away from the road and looked at Daxter.

"No you see dude, it's _Ximon _with a big capital…"

Daxter's eyes opened suddenly as he realised what was happening.

"Watch out dude!" Daxter yelled as the truck narrowly avoided a city wall.

Ximon laughed and attempted a high five with Daxter, who quickly refused.

"Hey little dude, chill, every little thing is gonna be alright now! Where you headed anyway?"

Daxter shrugged his shoulders and put his arms behind his head.

"I got nowhere to head Ximon- I have no idea how the hell I ended up in this dump, but here I am, all alone, living on the streets. Ximon frowned as he looked at Daxter.

"Aww dude that's harsh…" he brightened up "Dude! I know a totally gnarly idea! You can bunk with me! We always got room for another little furry dude at Chez Ximon!"

Daxter smiled, looking at the dense surfer with optimism. Maybe it wouldn't turn out so bad after all. He could stay with Ximon, then when he was ready start the hunt for Jak.

"So where is your crib anyways dude?" Daxter smirked as he laid his paws across the dashboard relaxed. He felt the wind rushing through his fur, and it was exhilarating. He finally felt okay. Everything was good….

"What do you mean an exterminator company?" Daxter yelled, looking the old man in the face. He had gone back to Ximon's place to find that his dad ran a dwindling exterminator company, and he expected Daxter to earn his keep if he was to stay here.

"Now it's perfectly fair Daxter my boy. They'll be no dilly dallying in my household; everything here is either useful or metal bug fodder. That's the problem we've been having lately." He continued, as Daxter sat down on a low crate "For some reason, the metal bugs have been found in abundance within the city walls. And where there's metal bugs, there's…"

"Metal Heads!" Ximon interrupted, flailing his hands around in the air and jumping around the heavily decorated room. "Once those nasty dudes get hold of you, it's game over man! They'll eat you like I eat fried chicken on a Saturday"

Daxter frowned at the pointless and lame metaphor that Ximon had used and jumped down in front of the old man.

"Okay, I'm in. I work to stay here, right?"

The man nodded.

"If I slack, I'm out on my ass?"

He nodded again.

"When do I start?"

The man grinned

"Tomorrow morning!"

Ximon gave Daxter a successful high five

"OH yeah little dude, rest up, 'cos in the morning it's bug hunting time! Awesome!"

Daxter smiled as he ran to his bed. He would leave the extermination for later, as now he was as fatigued as a worker yakcow.


	4. Your First Job

Daxter yawned. It had been a long, unforgiving night. Nightmares plagued him… terrible dreams where he saw that monster, the rift, it all replayed through his mind. He was scared. But now the fear subsided as sunlight spilled over his orange fur and opened his eyes. He felt optimistic again, and jumped off the large four poster bed. The room around him was old, decayed almost. The paint was old and peeled in the most obvious places. The plumbing was burst all over, and the lockers on the other side were broken and wouldn't shut properly. But, a place to stay is a place to stay, and it was the only place to stay Daxter had, so he would have to make do. He yawned again, stretching himself out from his head to his tail. A tired Ximon walked past in the corridor.

"Dude…" he said with a weak smile. He then walked off towards the main room. The old man was grabbing various tools out of a large crate, and passing them to Daxter and Ximon.

"Okay exterminators, these are your tools" He shouted enthusiastically, passing Daxter a short silver rod that had an opening at the end. "That, Daxter, is a patented Kridder Ridder Zapper. It can take down a metal bug with a few swipes. Careful how you..."

Daxter yelped as the searing hot tesla singed his fur.  
"…activate it" the man sighed as he snatched the zapper off the floor and passed it to Ximon. "Your first job is at the Westside Hotel. Go there, and maybe I'll give you a little something for your effort."

Ximon gave Daxter a thumb up.

"Pops, this'll be no worries man! I'll just take the Daxternator to the hotel and show him the ropes!"

Daxter looked up at the old man who passed him a tube that came with a backpack attachment. Fixed to it was a long, metal rod with a tube opening at the end.

"Now this is your Standard issue spray gun, with matching back pack. You use this to stun the bugs so you can get up close and personal with the zapper." He shook hands with Daxter. "I'm Osmo. Now get out there and show those bugs who runs this city!"

Ximon cheered in salutation as he ran out of the room and fired up the zoomer truck.

"Come on Dax!" he yelled from outside. Daxter nodded and with a grin, set his goggles down over his eyes. He holstered his zapper, and cocked his spray gun.

"Oh yeah baby, the Daxternator is in the building… get ready bugs, to meet your demise!"

Daxter jumped into the truck, and they were away. Osmo sighed as he looked at the small hovering dot on the horizon.

"That one's going to give me a lot of trouble. I can tell." He went back inside, rubbing his leathered hands together to protect himself from the cold.

The concierge muttered under his breath as he reviewed his current situation. The hotel was overrun by the metal bugs, and the blasted exterminators were late. If he didn't get rid of those pests before Mister Krew showed up, it was his job and his hide on the line. And everyone in Haven knew not to upset Krew. It just wasn't very practical, and certainly not very clever. Because everyone also knew what happened to those who upset Krew. And it involved the bottom of the Port Docks. Finally, two figures waltzed through the hotel doors. One was a small, orangey rat with a spray can on his back- the other was an inevitably stoned teenager. Neither seemed like the hardcore exterminators he had paid good money to hire.

"Hey! Junkie! You were supposed to get the pests out of here, not bring more with you!" he spat behind his 5 inch Plexiglas screen. "And it's about time you showed up. I've been waiting well over an hour. What does it take to get good service in this backwater city!?!! But I diverse. Hurry up and clear this place out before our number one customer gets here!"

Daxter growled at the man at the desk.

"Late? How are we late! We put the pedal to the medal to get here, and we missed lunch just so we could! So shut up, and we'll clean this craphouse up? Got it?!"

The concierge mumbled something and nodded slowly.

"Good! Come on Ximon, we got bugs to squish…"

Ximon followed Daxter up the elevator, carrying the large canister of bug repellent with him. They saw the hotel roof was overrun with metal bugs. Taking their zapper tools in one hand and his spray guns in the other, Daxter and Ximon set to work cleaning up the old hotel.

"This place is dustier than Samos's old hut back home…" Daxter muttered, running through a particular large metal bug. He saw that Ximon was talking into his communicator.

"Okay Pops… okay I'm on it. Yeah he can finish it off, we got most of em. Okay I'll be down right away, see ya dude."

Ximon looked upset.

"Pops wants me to go down to the construction site, there's something mucho not bueno going down there- something big dude, really big."

Daxter gasped, lifting his zapper.

"I'm ready for anything partner! Together we can take down that blowhard metal bug."

Ximon laughed and irritably patted Daxter on the head.

"No dice little buddy, you stay here and finish off the hotel, and I'll go. It's about time we kicked some metal ass. I'll see you later dude!"

And with that, Ximon walked off down the elevator. Daxter sighed as again he was left alone. He wondered where Jak was right now…

Jak opened his eyes to find himself in total darkness. He was lying in what seemed to be water, but he couldn't be sure. He muttered and his voice echoed throughout the place. He could hear growls… he did not know if they were from the many yellow glowing eyes that surrounded him... Or were they coming from him? He felt somebody shoving him up and shoving him at one of the yellow eyes. And then he blacked out….

_Jak…_

_Who's there?_

_Find yourself Jak. This will be a tough and difficult trial, and it seems unsure where it begins, and where it shall end. The two are intertwined in time._

_I feel so… weak._

_That may be, but you must hold on. The fate of this already weakened world lies in your hands._

_This isn't my home, this isn't… no... I have to wake up… No... I... I can't hold on…_

_The time will come warrior, and then you will find yourself and your friends. Your time will come…_

When Jak awoke he was still in total darkness, and the yellow eyes had gone. The growls had also stopped, and he was left in isolation. Jak closed his eyes and slept.


End file.
